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Younger people let me be clear, I really, truly need to talk to you sometimes, at least on the phone, stop just texting me! I work with young people at McGill University, they are very bright people, in the same league as my students at Oxford. Many text me, but seem to be rather reluctant to actually talk to me on the phone.

Contrast this to an actual Skype text conversation I had this week with someone my age:

What a contrast. So, Postmodern Generation, in this article let me explain to you why you need to break down and give me an old fashioned call or even office drop-by. What got me started was that in this week's Sunday New York Times, Eilene Immerman the New York Times Career Coach, wrote, "Compounding that, young employees who have grown up connected to the Internet use social media sites, cell phones and texting more than other generations, who may prefer face-to-face interactions." I don't know how old Eilene is, but boy did she get it right. Why do middle-aged people like phone and face-to-face? It's really pretty simple and actually makes sense.

On the phone I can hear nuances in a voice that a text message totally lacks like (I lived in LA in the late 70s so can speak some Valley Girl). On the phone I hear whether you are upset or not, that you are delighted with the news or otherwise, I can hear a long pause and read something into it, and generally get it right. The bandwidth of a voice is much broader and richer than a text. Which allows me to back pedal if you are upset, or push forward if you are less upset than I thought you would be. I can be sensitive to your reaction and hopefully, respond appropriately.

I asked Joseph Iannicelli, CEO of Standard Life Canada, for his comment: "I have seen countless examples of miscommunications, misinterpreting tone, misreading messages or reading into messages that were not there." If this applies to e-mails, how much more so to texts? OgilvyOne CEO Brian Fetherstonhaugh, says, “ I talk to several thousand people in their 20's every year. I often make a point about texting and e-mail, ‘How many people have solved a difficult emotional topic via e-mail or text ?’, So far, I haven't found a single one.”

Joseph suggests that for important or semi-important things, his people should have live discussions followed up by summary e-mails so there are fewer misunderstandings. Surprisingly, he concluded by saying that in his experience it often takes longer to communicate by text than phone. For me writing an e-mail often takes quite a bit longer than a phone call because I must craft it much more carefully, people often read and reread e-mails multiple times.

I just got off a Skype conference call with five other managers, it saved each of us a couple of hours travel time each, so it was great from that viewpoint, but last time we had to meet in person because we were dealing with a sensitive HR issue. The second time around Skype was fine, because we have excellent long term relationships and the issues were not as big. Just stopped by neighbour Leon's house to see if he wanted to walk to work this week, his wife said, "He will text you". Five years ago it would have been "he'll call", two years ago, "he'll e-mail," now, "he'll text" - which is fine. It is a simple exchange of information, so that works for me, though different than in the not too distant past.

Victoria, one of my former students, said, "I think it has a lot to do with multi-tasking. It would be rude to be speaking to someone face-to-face then answer a phone call, but I can be talking to someone, or even sitting listening to a professor in a class, and also quickly answer a text message at the same time. It's also just become habitual to pick up the phone to text someone rather than to call." All good points and an excellent use of texting, and nice to see a desire for politeness, though she is Canadian, it is a bit endemic up here.

Two of my RAs are medical students, I know that on occasion, they text me, a simple "yes" or "no" from class. I appreciate the way it quickly moves an issue forward, though as a future potential patient, I sure hope they are paying a lot of attention in class! In talking to former students in their 30s there seems to be a real difference between them and 20-something’s. Comfortingly, the 30-something’s are more like me than their younger compadres.

So a simple question to ask yourself, "How important is this issue?" If it ranks high then go for the greater band width way of reaching out. If it is vital, try to make it a sit down, face-to-face. In Joseph's and my experience, it will pay off in more effective communications, particularly with older people like us, not to rub it in or anything, but older people tend to run things and hold the budgets. Which in a few years, you will too. Understanding how your audience likes to be communicated with is an excellent starting place for effective communications.